The same disturbance-diversity dynamics governing forest trees also structure moss communities on logs

Evidence

This pattern directly mirrored the gap dynamics of the forest overhead. Tetraphis responded to big gaps, as if it had taken lessons from aspen, sending out lots of highly dispersable propagules, quickly cloning itself to fill the space. D. flagellare seemed to be the equivalent of yellow birch, surviving by jumping into the smallest of gaps. The carpet mosses played the same role as the climax beech and maples, slow, enduring competitors poised to move in. — Robin Wall Kimmerer, Gathering Moss, 371

Categorization

• XREF: connects to: Disturbance is an act of renewal when its frequency is balanced — Robin Wall Kimmerer, Gathering Moss: A Natural and Cultural…, 305; Chipmunk foot traffic both creates the gaps and disperses the moss that colonizes them — Robin Wall Kimmerer, Gathering Moss: A Natural and Cultural…, 380; Forest age and composition changes cluster along disturbance-history boundaries — Tom Wessels, Forest Forensics: A Field Guide to…, 30 (+6 more)